Retired NBA point guard, Spud Webb, was born on July 13, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.

Standing at 5 feet 6 inches tall, Webb received his first oppurtunity to play on a basketball team when he attended Midland College (in Midland, Texas), where he led his team to the junior college national title in 1982.

Webb attracted the attention of Tom Abatemarco, an assistant coach at North Carolina State University, who arranged for Webb to meet head coach Jim Valvano, who offered Webb a scholarship. In two years at N.C. State, Spud averaged 10.4 points and 5.7 assists per game.

Spud Webb was then drafted in the 4th round of the 1985 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons. His first six seasons were played with the Atlanta Hawks, but he had his best years statistically with the Sacramento Kings, where he played as a starter from 1992-1995. He then split a season between the Atlanta Hawks and the Minnesota Timberwolves before finishing his career after one season with the Orlando Magic and retiring from professional basketball in 1998. Webb played 814 career games, averaging 9.9 points per game, registering 8072 points and 4342 assist in twelve seasons.

Spud Webb was, and remains the third shortest player to play in the NBA. Only Earl Boykins and Muggsy Bogues were shorter.

Spud Webb, the shortest person to compete in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, won the event in 1986. His participation surprised the media; including his teammates, and defending dunk champion Dominique Wilkins, who had "never seen me dunk before," Webb said.

Webb's dunks included the elevator two-handed double pump dunk, the one-handed off the backboard one-handed jam, a 360-degree helicopter one-handed dunk, a 180-degree reverse double-pump slam, and finally, the 180-degree reverse two-handed strawberry jam from a lob bounce off the floor. He defeated Wilkins with two perfect 150-point scores in the final round.

Atlanta coach Mike Fratello said, "Spud kind of duped him. He told Wilkins he never had anything prepared, didn't practice for it. So, Wilkins maybe thought his normal assortment would be good enough to get through". Twenty years after Webb's victory in the Slam Dunk contest, he trained New York Knicks point guard Nate Robinson (who stands at 5 feet 9 inches tall) to win the event. Webb tossed the ball to Robinson, who leaped over Webb and dunked, earning 50 points from the judges. Robinson went on to win, making him the second player in basketball history under six feet to win since Webb.